wins Bell

‘Television With An Attitude’ is a Banff panel that celebrates and debates the work of producers, directors and broadcasters ‘who dare to tread where few have gone before.’ So it’s fitting that producer/moderator Sara Diamond will herself be in the spotlight for her video with an attitude, as this year’s recipient of the Bell Canada Award for outstanding achievement in video – $10,000 – and a Canada Council medal.

A degree in social history and communications theory plus research on working women is evident in Diamond’s transition from research to writing to videotape. Her work is a hybrid of doc and fiction that weaves a personal narrative, often exploring the role of memory in the creation of history.

Looking at the working woman’s role is a common theme, such as the plight of women cannery workers in 1930s b.c. in Ten Dollars or Nothing! (1989), or women at work during wwii, Keep the Home Fires Burning: Women, War, Work and Unions in British Columbia (1988).

Diamond, in addition to producing work which has been screened around the globe, has worked as a video curator, cultural critic and an educator, and has served on the boards of several arts organizations. Currently Diamond is executive producer of tv, docs and multimedia projects at the Banff Centre.